Better Than No Love
by HilsK
Summary: Challenge response. A spell goes awry with interesting consequences. Buffy/Spike, Willow/Warren, Anya/Giles, Xander/Andrew


Title: Better Than No Love

Author: Hilary (ImmortalBeloved2000@yahoo.co.uk) and Shoshanna (shoshanna@rsvlonline.net)

Rating: R (for mild M/M slash)

Disclaimer: Everything I have borrowed from Joss.

Author's Notes: Response to Challenge 31 on the site. Challenge was this :-

The Weird Love Challenge.

Don't care about plot (but try and make it at least reasonably plausible)

Fic MUST include the following pairings

Xander/Andrew

Willow/Warren 

Anya/Giles

Buffy/Spike (Duh!)

Ideally it should be set before Giles left and Warren went psychotic but if you can figure out another way of doing it then that's fine. Feel free to pair Tara and Dawn up with people (but not each other because that's just ick!) Or you can just leave them either out of the fic or keep them single

MUST include at least 3 of the following

Andrew refers to Xander as his 'little flying butt-monkey'

Xander and Andrew write each other klingon poetry

Anya and Giles make out on the magic shop counter

Willow and Warren fall in love online and don't realise who the other is until they meet

Anya wants to try out some interesting sex positions and Giles strains a muscle in the middle of it

Willow and Warren each building some sort of robot for the other as a gift

Buffy and Spike walking in on the other couples making out and one of them saying "Just another regular day on the Hellmouth"

Buffy decides to paint Spike's nails black. The others start suggesting different colours he could wear and in the end the gang give him a makeover.

Dedications: Shoshanna: Thanks to Hilary for not thinking my ideas are crazy. Or knowing that they are, and loving them anyway.

Hilary: Thanks to Shoshanna for agreeing to write this with me and for giving birth to the wonderful Xandrew ship. Thanks also to the mother of the Willow/Warren ship, Flick

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A year ago if someone had asked Xander Harris how he saw his future he'd have shrugged it off with the carefree attitude he'd had for most of his life. Life on the hellmouth was so unpredictable that you couldn't afford to spend your time worrying about the future. This was a place where you had to treat each day as though it was your last. Literally. He'd faced the end of the world too many times to take anything for granted. He was happy to take each day at a time and not think too much about days which in all reality he might never see.

Now, however, the future seemed to be looming over him. He could see the rest of his life in front of him and he was almost at the stage where he was going to vow to spend the rest of this life with one person. The thought was scarier than any demon or apocalypse he had ever faced. What if he was making a mistake? What if his marriage to Anya was a disaster? What if she wasn't the one? There were so many questions and he didn't have the answer to any of them. 

This was what had led him to 'borrow' a book of magic from the shop. Maybe something in it would help him find the answers he needed. A small part of him had told him not to dabble after what had happened with Sweet. But he _had_ to know.

As he flicked through the book something caught his eye and he began to read, a smile starting to spread over his face

'Discover your true love'

This was _exactly_ what he needed. It was perfect. It seemed like a fairly simple spell too, all he needed were a few herbs, which he could get from the shop. 

He grabbed his jacket and headed out. Soon he'd have all the answers he needed.

*** ****

Warren and Andrew walked down the street together. They were ducking into the alleys, trying to remain undetected. It wasn't really necessary, since no one gave them a passing glance anyway. But somehow it made them feel more important and stealthy.

"Why aren't you wearing your ski cap?" Andrew whispered to Warren as they ducked behind a dumpster.

"Because, it's like eighty degrees. And it's daytime. You really think it's helping you blend in?" 

Warren asked with a raised eyebrow, as he took in Andrews's ridiculous stealth gear.

Andrew pulled the cap off his head and stuffed it into his pocket.

"We are so gonna get caught. Why can't we just come back tonight?" He asked his partner.

"Because, we need the stuff now. Just shut up and quit your pathetic whining."

"The Slayer will kick our asses if she finds us."

"I'm not afraid of her." Warren lied, trying to be confident. "Besides, she's probably busy doing...whatever it is she's doing these days. She won't be here."

They came up behind the Magic Box building and ducked behind a wooden crate. They didn't see anyone around and were getting ready to slip in the back door. Just then, they saw a person run past them with a blanket over their head. It was smoking, and the air around them smelled like burning wool and cat hair.

Once in the shade of the building, Spike ripped his flaming blanket off his head, and stomped it out. He opened the back door and slipped inside.

"Dude, that was that vampire. Spike. I'm so not going in there now." Andrew said nervously.

"Be quiet. He won't hurt us, because he won't even know we're there." Warren explained. 

"Now come on."

Warren slipped out from behind the crate and headed for the door. Andrew reluctantly followed behind him. They snuck inside and shut the door quickly behind them. Once inside they saw another door to their right. They opened it and climbed down the stairs to the basement.

"See how easy that was?" Warren whispered as they started looking around the various jars of magical supplies.

"Wow...Look at all this stuff." Andrew picked up a jar of petrified hamster eyes, and shoved it into his pocket. 

Warren saw him out of the corner of his eye.

"Put that back. It's not on the list."

"So? It's cool. I-I might wanna use them someday." Andrew protested.

"For what?"

"I don't know."

"Just get the things on the list and let's get out of here. You're wasting time." Warren said getting exasperated with his partner.

"You are so not the boss of me! If I want hamster eyes, I'll take hamster eyes. And there isn't anything you can do about it." Andrew said huffily, as he crossed his arms and refused to budge.

Warren walked over to him. He looked at him calmly, then suddenly attacked him. He tried to wrench the un-needed jar out of his hands.

"Stop it! You...you..jerk!" Andrew complained as Warren got him into a headlock.

Warren managed to wrestle the jar free, and straightened his clothes. Satisfied, he put the jar on the shelf again, and held the list in front of a defeated Andrew.

"The list. Nothing else. Do it." He said firmly.

Andrew sighed and yanked it out of his hand. He went back to work perusing the shelves, as he muttered under his breath. He didn't know why he was always letting Warren push him around. They were supposed to be partners.

"I don't see why it's such a big deal. We're stealing anyway." Andrew muttered.

"Because we can only carry so much, and we don't want anyone to know we've been here. If we clean the place out, it might be suspicious." Warren explained as he took a jar off the shelf, and put it into a duffel bag.

"Whatever." 

"Just stop complaining, and get the stuff." Warren sighed.

The longer it took the more likely they'd get caught. And that was the one thing neither one of them wanted to happen.

*******

Xander strolled into the shop trying his best to look casual. All he needed to do was take the stuff he needed without Anya seeing and get somewhere quiet so he could do the spell. It sounded simple in theory but when he saw the shop he realised he should have known that nothing is as simple as it seemed.

Not only was Anya manning the counter but Giles was there too. He'd postponed his trip back to England after the incident with their memory loss. Buffy had been forced to relive the pain of everything that had happened to her in a few intense moments as her memories came crashing down upon her. She seemed to be coping all right with it all but Giles had insisted on staying another week just to make sure.

Also in the shop were Buffy and Spike, the Slayer berating the vampire for coming out in the day yet again. 

So that was four pairs of eyes Xander had to avoid. Luckily he still had a little of the commando training left in him and that included stealth tactics. He could do this. He just needed to make sure the others were distracted.

"I think we should put the Hog Warts here on the main counter." Anya suggested. "You know, to cash in on all the hype about Harry Potter."

Giles sighed and shook his head. "Anya, Hog Warts are next to useless. Nobody is going to buy them, regardless of any associated merchandise."

Anya picked up and studied the jar of warts before setting them down on the counter. "People _like_ Harry Potter. Why do you think business is doing so well? Everyone wants to get into magic. Isn't that right Xander?"

Xander jumped, not realising that his presence had even been noticed. "Who? What?"

"I said people are getting into magic because of the Harry Potter thing." Anya repeated.

"Um…yeah." Xander replied, trying to blend in as much as possible.

Giles took the jar from her. "We're not putting these on the counter."

Anya tried to grab the jar back, causing her hand to land on top of Giles'. 

Instantly the two of them froze, as they both became aware of the physical contact between them.

"Um….you're right." Anya said hurriedly, trying not to blush. Things had been awkward between them ever since they'd shared that kiss when they thought they were engaged. "Why don't I put them out of the way."

"No, no." Giles replied equally hurriedly. "I signed over the running of the shop to you. You put the warts there if you like."

They both let go of the jar at once, sending it to the floor where it smashed and solved the problem of where to display it. Anya went to get a broom while Giles began to clean up as best he could. 

All of this, however, has gone unseen by Spike and Buffy who were still trying to argue in the most discreet way possible.

"Why won't you talk about this?" Spike whispered whilst pretending to help Buffy clean her weapons.

"There's nothing to talk about, Spike." She hissed back, casting looks around to make sure no one was listening.

"I don't call two kisses nothing. Why are you hiding from this?"

"I'm not hiding. There's nothing to hide from. Now will you just drop it."

Xander cast a quick glance around the shop. Anya was still looking for a broom, Giles was bent down behind the counter and Buffy and Spike were busy cleaning their weapons. This was his chance. He quickly grabbed what he needed and ducked through the door to the basement. He wanted to be near Anya when he cast the spell, just to make sure it worked and this looked like the best place. 

*******

Warren and Andrew were busily finishing up their illegal shopping spree. They heard the basement door open and their eyes grew wide.

"Dude, someone's coming!" Andrew panicked. "It's probably the Slayer and now we're gonna die."

"Will you shut up? Come on, over here." Warren grabbed his arm and yanked him over behind a pile of shipping crates.

"Ow!" Andrew said, a little too loudly.

Warren glared at him.

"Be quiet." He hissed under his breath.

"You're on my foot and it--."

"I swear if you don't shut your mouth now, I'll grab those stupid hamster eyes and shove em' down your throat." Warren whispered.

Andrew shifted uncomfortably.

"I'm just saying you're kinda heavy. My foot--."

Warren looked at him desperately, and Andrew shut his mouth.

"Being quiet now." He said softly.

They watched as Xander made his way down the steps and into the middle of the room. He pulled out a bag of herbs and a magic book of some kind. He sat down on a stack of boxes and began leafing through the spellbook to find what he was looking for.

"What's he doing?" Andrew whispered softly.

"He's gonna turn you into a toad." Warren said with a small smirk.

"What?" Andrew asked nervously.

Warren just turned to him and rolled his eyes. He was so gullible.

Xander sprinkled the herbs in a small circle at his feet. He took a crystal out of his pocket and put it in the middle.

"Goddess of Love, grant this wish. Tell me the one I am dreaming of, show me the face of my true love." Xander read aloud.

He looked around and expected a little poof of smoke, or magic fairy dust to rain down on him. Or at the very least, he expected his mind to become clear and he'd suddenly know in his heart if Anya was the one he was meant to be with. But nothing was different. He sighed, and looked at the spellbook again.

He realized that he had forgotten one of the ingredients. He got up and started looking at the supplies on the shelves.

"He's coming over here!" Andrew whispered frantically.

"Shh!"

Xander grabbed the jar marked 'hamster eyes'. He picked it up and made a face.

"That's gross. But kinda cool." He remarked. He sighed and put the jar back.

"See? I told you the hamster eyes were cool." Andrew whispered to Warren.

He just ignored him and hoped Xander would hurry up and get out of there.

Xander grabbed the jar with dried rose petals and sage in it, and took out a handful. He went back over to the spot he was sitting at. 

"Well, it says sage and rose_mary_...And these are rose _petals_." He said to himself. He shrugged. "Good enough. They both have 'rose' in them." He decided.

He sprinkled them over the crystal and repeated the spell. He looked around again, and nothing happened. Frustrated he grabbed the book and dejectedly went back up the stairs. As he disappeared, the circle of herbs exploded in a small puff of smoke. Unbeknownst to him, the spell had been cast. True love was soon to be waiting.

*******

Casting a glance around the shop Xander was disappointed to see that the spell really hadn't worked. Nothing was different at all. Buffy and Spike were now carving stakes and Anya and Giles were rearranging some of the bookshelves. Well, there was only one way to find out for sure. He marched over to Anya, pulled her into his arms and kissed her hard.

"Xander, what are you doing?" Anya asked as he pulled back, a little surprised by his sudden display of affection in the middle of the shop.

"What?" Xander asked defensively. "I'm not allowed to kiss my fiancée?"

Anya looked at him strangely. Maybe he'd been possessed or something. "It's not that, it's just-"

She was prevented from continuing by the door opening and Willow wandering in looking bored. Buffy looked up from her stakes.

"Where's Dawn? You were supposed to be looking after her." 

Willow flopped down in the chair next to Spike. "She's gone to the mall with Tara."

"Oh." Buffy still didn't know what had happened between Willow and Tara. All Willow had told her was that they'd broken up and that she didn't want to talk about it.

Willow smiled, clearly not wanting to dwell on it. "I thought I'd come and pick up some supplies. Tara took a lot of her stuff with her and there are a few things I need."

Buffy was a little surprised that Willow didn't seem overly concerned with the break up. Maybe they stood a chance of getting back together.

Anya turned back to Xander. "You're acting very strangely. Have you been possessed?"

The ground began to tremble.

"See!" Anya cried triumphantly. "I knew it! You're possessed and whatever it is that's inside you is causing the earth to shake."

Xander looked around nervously as the tremors began to get stronger.

"Anya, it's not me. I'm not possessed. We need to get out of here."

The gang hurriedly made their way to the door, barely able to stay on their feet as the earth shook beneath them. They were barely halfway across the store when the ceiling began to crack and debris started to rain down on them. They tried to speed up but it was no use. Several beams and chunks of rubble fell down blocking both the main doorway and the one that lead to the training room.

"What do we do now?" Xander yelled above the noise, covering his head from the continuous rain of plaster.

"The basement!" Giles yelled. "It's the only place we have left."

Another crack resounded through the store and Spike jumped forward, tackling Buffy to the ground just as another beam fell. He managed to get Buffy out of the way but unfortunately wasn't so lucky himself. The beam caught him on the head, knocking him out cold.

Without hesitating Buffy ran back and grabbed him, dragging him the rest of the way to the basement. Once she was safely inside Xander closed the door. Moments later the quake stopped and everyone froze as they waited for the aftershocks to start. When a few minutes passed and nothing had happened Xander sighed with relief and tried the door. It wouldn't budge. He tried again and realised that something must have fallen and blocked the doorway after they'd gone in.

They were trapped.

"Oh god...Was that an end of the world earthquake?" Anya asked nervously.

"I'm sure it was just the regular kind." Xander assured her, uncertain if he was right or not.

"We have to get out of here!" Anya said, feeling the effects of being trapped.

"Just calm down. We'll find a way out, I'm certain." Giles assured her as he surveyed the damage.

Just then, Spike started to come to and he rubbed his forehead.

"What the bloody hell just happened?" Then he looked at Buffy. "Are you alright?" He asked her.

The last thing he remembered was pushing her out of the way of a fallen beam.

"I'm fine. It was an earthquake. We're sorta trapped in the basement now." Buffy told him unhappily.

"The basement?"

Just then, a pile of boxes went crashing to the floor in the corner of the room. Everyone jumped, fearful it was the beginning of an aftershock. They turned their heads towards the commotion, and saw two guys dressed in black.

Andrew and Warren realized they had been noticed and shifted uncomfortably.

"Uh, hey." Warren said, trying to act like it was the most natural thing in the world for them to be in that basement.

"Warren?" Buffy asked, recognizing him from the whole April-bot fiasco. 

"The robot guy." Willow said with a small smile. She had been meaning to tell him what a nice job he had done on the Buffy-bot.

"Yeah." Warren smiled back at her.

"Uh, What the hell are you doing in here? And who's that other guy?" Buffy interrupted their moment.

"I'm Andrew. Please don't kill me." Andrew said nervously.

Everyone stared at them, curious about why they were in the basement.

"Okay...And again, why are you here?" Buffy asked.

"We were just, um, you know, walking down the street and there was this earthquake. So we ducked inside the building. And here we are." Warren lied not very convincingly.

"Were you stealing?" Anya asked, noticing a jar sticking out of Andrew's pocket.

She walked over and firmly yanked it out of his pocket.

"Hamster eyes? You were stealing hamster eyes?" She asked incredulously.

Warren looked at Andrew and felt like strangling him to death. After all of that he had taken the stupid eyes. And now they were caught red handed. And trapped with the enemy. This could not end well for anyone. Most of all them.

"I-I don't know how that got there. I-It must have fallen when the earthquake hit." Andrew stammered.

"It fell into your pocket? How convenient." Anya said angrily. No one was going to steal from her shop. "I'm calling the police."

She turned around huffily and walked away from them.

"Dude, the police! I-I can't go to jail." Andrew muttered unhappily.

"Shut up. She can't call the police. We're trapped." Warren pointed out.

Anya realized this as well, and glared at them.

"Fine. But I _will_ call them just as soon as we're free." She promised them.

"Look, how are we gonna get out? Buffy? Spike? You think you can bust through the door?" Xander asked.

"We can try." Buffy told them.

She and Spike walked up the steps and tried to budge the door. They heaved their bodies at it, and nothing happened. Something extremely heavy must have fallen against it. Even with their combined Slayer and vampire strength, the door wasn't moving.

"It's not gonna happen." Spike said irritated as they came back down the stairs.

"I could get us out." Willow spoke up.

Everyone turned to her curiously.

"You can?" Warren asked.

She nodded her head.

"I can use magic. I think I have just about everything I'd need down here. I can just substitute--."

"No. No magic. There are a lot of broken jars down here. The risk of tainting the spell is too great." Giles interrupted.

"But--."

"No, Giles is right. Besides, after what happened the other day when you tried to do a spell...I'm thinking maybe you need to back off the magic for a bit." Buffy pointed out, still bitter about the amnesia spell.

"Your spells never turn out properly. What if you accidentally turn us all into goats? Or worse yet, bunnies?" Anya said with a shudder.

Willow was hurt and furious that no one seemed to trust her anymore. Or her ability to do magic.

"Fine. If we're trapped here forever and no one notices until they smell the stench of our rotting corpses, don't blame me." She said angrily.

"Will..." Xander said sympathetically.

"Forget it." Willow said dismissively, as she went and sat down on a box near Warren and Andrew.

"Someone will find us." Buffy assured them all.

They all sat around in various corners of the room, while Anya paced nervously. She was starting to feel claustrophobic, and she was tugging at her shirt collar nervously. Just then everyone got dizzy and it seemed as though the room was spinning.

Anya stopped pacing and leaned on Giles for support. Then like a flash the dizziness went away, and everyone shook their heads to clear their minds.

"Whoa...That was strange." Buffy said, feeling confused for a moment.

"You felt that too?" Xander asked.

"Yeah, I just got dizzy there for a sec. It must have been something to do with the earthquake." Buffy figured.

Spike was looking at everyone oddly. He hadn't felt anything. But he shrugged it off. Must be a human thing, he thought to himself.

Anya was still leaning on Giles and she looked into his eyes. Their eyes flashed purple for a brief second, but they didn't notice. All they could see was each other.

"Are you alright, Anya?" Giles asked with concern.

"I'm fine." She said breathlessly gazing at him.

He smiled at her broadly.

"I don't care what any of you say. I vote we let the magic chick get us out of here." Warren announced, feeling a little claustrophobic himself. The dizziness had freaked him out.

Willow smiled at him and their eyes flashed purple.

"At least someone believes in me." She said pleased to have someone on her side.

"No. The 'magic chick' isn't doing anything." Buffy protested.

Xander stepped forward.

"Look, Buff, it might not be such a bad idea. What if there's another quake and the whole ceiling caves in?" Xander pointed out.

"It's too risky. We don't know what would happen. If something went wrong--." Giles explained.

"Nothing would go wrong. Nice to see everyone has so much faith in me." Willow said bitterly.

"I have faith in you, Will, it's just--." Buffy started.

"No you don't."

"After what happened last time, we just don't want any surprises." Buffy finished her thoughts.

"We're all going to die, aren't we?" Anya complained, as she started hyperventilating.

Giles rubbed her back gently and tried to calm her.

"No we won't. It'll be fine."

"This is probably all her fault anyway. How do we know she wasn't doing another spell and it made the earthquake? You did this, didn't you?" Anya accused Willow angrily.

"I did not!"

"Anya, be quiet. You're making everything worse." Xander told her, in defense of Willow.

"Don't tell me to be quiet, Xander Harris." Anya glared at him.

"That's quite enough. Both of you." Giles intervened.

"No it's not. Why are you always on her side and not mine?" Anya asked Xander.

"I'm not. She's my friend and I'm just trying to keep the peace." 

"It's annoying that I always come in second. You know, I used to think it was really sexy how loyal you were to your friends. But it's not anymore. You are no longer sexy." Anya told him huffily.

"I think he's sexy." Andrew said matter-of-factly.

Everyone was stunned for a moment and turned around to look at him.

"Dude, what the hell did you just say?" Warren asked him incredulously.

Andrew realized he had spoken the words out loud and started to panic.

"Uh...I don't know." He shook his head, embarrassed.

Xander looked at Andrew and a small flash of purple went through their eyes. They smiled at each other.

"Look all this bloody fighting is getting us no where. We need to stay calm." Spike stood up and faced them all.

"Spike's right." Buffy said as she got up to stand beside him. Spike looked into her eyes, and there was a faint flicker of lavender dancing there. 

"Spike's always right." Buffy said dreamily gazing into his eyes.

"Yeah." Spike agreed, then he did a double take. "What? I'm always right?" He asked stunned by how agreeable she was being.

"You are. You were right about everything. I was the one who was wrong. I see that now." She told him.

"Well, right then. Good." He said awkwardly.

Buffy took his hand and smiled at him. Spike was completely confused by her sudden turn around. But he wasn't complaining. 

"Why are you holding hands?" Xander asked curiously.

"Because, I don't care if the whole world knows." Buffy smiled at Spike.

"Buffy?" Spike asked perplexed.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and started kissing him wildly. They were completely oblivious to anyone around them.

"Okay, that's disturbing. Did this earthquake screw with your mind, Buffy?" Xander shook his head.

She ignored him, too wrapped up in Spike's kisses to even hear him.

Xander looked around the room and saw that Willow and Warren were sitting together behind a pile of shipping crates, talking softly and laughing. Anya and Giles were sitting together, and Giles was smoothing Anya's hair away from her face. Xander knew he should feel jealous. He should be the one over there comforting her, but for some reason it didn't bother him.

Andrew walked up next to Xander. He smiled awkwardly.

"Looks like it's just you and me." Andrew said with a sigh. The truth was he was glad that Warren was occupied with the redhead.

"Yeah." Xander agreed with a small smile.

They sat down on the floor and started talking.

Anya looked at Giles, as he did his best to comfort her claustrophobic fears.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" She asked softly.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I-I don't know. It's just...I like it. It feels nice."

Giles smiled sheepishly and looked away from her.

"The truth is Anya, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. Not since that spell. When we thought we were engaged? I have to admit it felt very good." He said softly.

She looked at him with wide eyes.

"You too? I-I thought it was just me. Oh, Rupert." She said happily.

"Oh, Anya. You are the most beautiful woman I've ever met." He told her sincerely.

"I am?"

"Yes. You're intelligent, vivacious, and honest. Sometimes, brutally so. But it's refreshing."

"Really? Xander thinks it's annoying and embarrassing."

"Perhaps he's not man enough to handle a woman such as yourself?" Giles offered, unable to stop the words that were flowing from his lips.

"Are you man enough?" She asked with excitement in her eyes.

"Oh yes."

She leaned over and kissed him passionately. Giles pulled her close. They were lost in their embrace for a moment, then he pulled away.

"But what about Xander?" He asked.

"Who?" 

"Xander? Your fiancée'?"

"Oh." She remembered. 

She glanced over to see if Xander had spied them kissing. He was too busy laughing with Andrew and hadn't even looked over at her. She shrugged.

"I don't think he minds." She said, kissing Giles again.

Xander and Andrew were chatting softly. Xander was completely unaware his fiancée' was making out with Buffy's Watcher only steps away.

"This reminds me of that episode of The X-Files." Andrew said with a smile. "You know, the one where Mulder and Scully get trapped underground by that huge mushroom?"

"Yeah, and they hallucinated all this crazy stuff."

"Totally. You think we're hallucinating this? I mean, what if none of this is real?" Andrew wondered with awe.

"It seems real."

"That's just what Mulder said." Andrew remarked with a grin. He noticed that Xander reminded him of David Duchovny. "I love that episode."

Xander nodded, he'd been thinking exactly the same thing. It was his favourite too. "Or this is like that episode of Babylon 5 where they all get trapped in that cave."

"I love Babylon 5." Andrew replied. "I thought it was one of the best shows."

"Me too!" Xander replied; feeling himself growing closer to Andrew with every moment that passed. "I have a set of Collector Plates."

"That is SO cool." Andrew said, a dreamy look in his eyes. "I always wanted those. I've got the Voyager set."

"Maybe we could meet up sometime when we get out of here and watch some of the tapes together." Xander replied.

Andrew smiled shyly. "That'd be nice."

Unable to keep it inside any longer Xander had to ask. "Do you really think I'm sexy?"

Andrew blushed and lowered his eyes. "Um….yeah. Just like David Duchovny."

Xander beamed a smile and took Andrew's hand in his. "Thanks. You're not bad yourself."

Xander had no idea why he was feeling this way, but something about it felt so right.

Willow and Warren were alone in the corner behind a wall of crates. They didn't even realize what was going on with everyone else.

"So, you're really a witch?" Warren asked her curiously.

"Yup. A damn good one. Powerful too. Except no one else seems to think so." She admitted sadly.

"I think you're cool. I'm sure you could totally get us out of here. Your friends are just stupid."

She nodded.

"They totally are. They don't trust me." She complained.

"I know how you feel. My friends are totally retarded. I don't even know why I'm friends with them." He shook his head.

"It sucks when no one appreciates what you do." 

"Totally."

"Were you guys really stealing down here?" Willow asked him curiously.

"Uh, no. Of course not. I mean, I don't know what Andrew was doing. But _I_ wasn't stealing." He lied.

Willow glanced over and saw his duffel bag brimming with magical supplies. She raised her eyebrow.

"Then what's that?" She pointed to the bag.

He turned his head and realized the bag with his name monogrammed on the side, was spilling over with stolen goods. He looked at her nervously.

"Well, there was this spell we were gonna do. And--." He started to explain.

She sighed.

"It's okay. I won't tell. I've kind of 'borrowed' some stuff from here before too. Just don't let Anya see you. She tends to get really pissy over money." Willow told him.

Warren smiled at her. 

"You're so cool." He said looking into her eyes.

"You're pretty cool too."

"Really?" He was surprised.

She nodded.

"I actually hoped I'd see you again someday."

"You did? Why?"

"Well, I wanted to tell you how incredible your Buffy-bot was. The craftsmanship was amazing. Very realistic." She said excitedly.

"You know about the Buffy-bot?" 

"Yeah. It's a long story, but I sorta took over the responsibility of taking care of her last summer. We needed her as a decoy. I-I tried to re-program her circuits, but you had done such a thorough job, it wasn't easy." She said in awe of his handiwork.

"You knew how to work on her?"

She nodded.

"Computer-y things are my speciality. Well, that and magic."

"Did I ever tell you how incredibly cool you are?" He asked with a large smile.

She laughed.

"Yeah, actually you said that a few seconds ago." She smiled at him. "But you can say it again if you want."

They smiled at each other. They felt like they had found a kindred spirit. Someone who completely understood them. It was amazing.

Meanwhile, Buffy and Spike remained oblivious to everything that was going on around them, still wrapped up in each other's kisses. Spike still didn't know why Buffy had suddenly changed her mind about him but he certainly wasn't going to ask her and ruin everything. He wasn't that stupid. 

Finally Buffy pulled back for air and gently ran her fingers over his face while she took in some much-needed oxygen. Spike winced as Buffy's fingers came into contact with the rather large lump on his head, causing her to frown.

"You saved my life today, Spike." She whispered gently, leaning up and pressing a soft kiss to his bump.

"I'm not about to lose you again." He whispered back, brushing her hair away from her face.

Buffy leaned in for another kiss, having caught her breath. "I love you, Spike."

Now he knew he had to be dreaming. He'd imagined those words coming from her lips a thousand times but never once dreamt he'd ever actually hear her say them.

"I love you." She repeated, almost as though she was reading his thoughts.

"I love you too." He replied, barley managing to get the words out before she began kissing him again.

Spike was in heaven. Apparently all Buffy needed was a little more time to deal with their relationship. He hoped she'd come around, but never imagined it would be this easy to get through to her. 

Buffy grabbed Spike's jacket and pulled him into a dark corner with her. 

"I wanna be alone." She whispered with a small grin.

They were concealed by a large bookshelf, giving them plenty of privacy. Not that anyone else was even paying attention to them. They were all wrapped up in their own conversations and kisses. Buffy pulled Spike to the ground with her, and things started to heat up.

Just then, they heard a voice upstairs and knocking on the basement door.

"Is anyone down there?" Tara called out worriedly.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked towards the stairs.

"In here! We're trapped!" Anya yelled, relieved someone had found them at last.

"Hold on! I-I'll get you out." Tara assured them. She was going to do a spell to move the heavy beam that had fallen in front of the door.

Everyone looked around. Buffy and Spike straightened their clothes, as Willow and Warren came out from behind the boxes holding hands. Suddenly everyone realized they weren't that concerned with being rescued anymore. Everyone felt a level of comfort and peace that they'd never experienced before.

Anya was sitting on Giles' lap, as he gently played with a lock of her hair. Andrew and Xander we're sitting rather close to each other on the floor, facing each other with their knees touching. Andrew was playing absently with Xander's shoelace. Nothing made sense, but it didn't really matter. Everyone was happy.

With a loud crash, the basement door busted open. Tara walked into the doorway and peered down at them.

"Is anyone hurt?" She asked.

"No. We're all okay." Giles assured her.

Tara was relieved.

"You guys need to get out. It's not safe down there." 

Tara watched as Giles helped Anya off of his lap, and made their way to safety. Spike had his arm around Buffy's shoulder, and Xander helped Andrew to his feet. They looked deep into each other's eyes and smiled. Tara was confused, and became even more so when she saw Willow.

Warren had his arm around her, and he was whispering something into her ear. Willow laughed, and grinned at him widely. Tara felt her heart break. Willow had already moved on? It didn't seem possible. And with some strange guy that Tara barely knew. She recognized him, but had no idea who he was.

Everyone walked up the stairs and stood around briefly taking in the site of destruction to the shop.

"Where is Dawn?" Buffy asked Tara.

Tara was still staring at Willow, who hadn't even said anything to her. She was too busy giggling with Warren. Tara turned to Buffy.

"Huh?"

"Dawn? She was supposed to be with you?" Buffy reminded her.

"Oh, yeah. S-she's fine. She's outside. I told her to wait cause I didn't know how safe it was in here." Tara said absently, watching as Giles held Anya in his arms.

He was trying to comfort her over the mess that had become of their store. Tara realized something bizarre was going on. Everyone was acting very strangely. No one even seemed to care that she was in the room.

She turned to ask Buffy a question, but Buffy was kissing Spike again. She couldn't keep her hands off of him. Tara shook her head.

"Okay, what is wrong with you guys? What's going on?" Tara asked.

They all looked at her curiously.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.

"W-why are you kissing Spike? A-and Giles and Anya?" Then she looked at Willow and Warren. "And you, Willow?" She questioned her sadly.

"I'm sorry Tara. It's just, we broke up. You said it wasn't working, a-and maybe you were right?" Willow offered, not wanting to hurt Tara's feelings. She knew it was soon to move on, but she didn't care.

Tara shook her head.

"No, something is going on. This is a spell, isn't it? You did another spell." Tara accused Willow sadly.

"I so did not. I'm sorry if your feelings are hurt, but you dumped me. Remember?" Willow reminded her.

"Fine. If that's how you feel, but what about everyone else? Look at them." Willow followed Tara's confused gaze around the room.

She saw Andrew lean up and whisper something into Xander's ear. And they both started laughing. Willow was shocked at how cozy they were.

"Hmm...Looks like Xander's kinda gay too." She remarked, surprised, but not overly concerned.

"That's it. This ends now." Tara shook her head sadly. 

Her senses could pick up the energy of magicks in the room. No matter what Willow said, Tara knew someone had done a spell that was making everyone act like this.

"Keeper of truth, hear my plea. Return things back the way they were meant to be." Tara chanted softly under her breath.

All at once a blinding purple flash lit up the room. Everyone shielded their eyes and the dizziness from before plagued them again. Everyone shook their heads to clear their minds. Then they took in their surroundings.

Buffy jumped away from Spike, and wiped at her mouth. She looked around nervously, wondering if anyone had seen them kissing. She was horrified. Spike was confused, as the spell hadn't affected him at all. But he should have realized something was up. Buffy was being too nice. It wasn't like her.

"Spike...Oh my god. Get away from me." Buffy said hurriedly, trying to pretend she hadn't wanted him.

He sighed. There was the Buffy he knew. He liked the other one better.

Xander and Andrew leapt away from each, disgusted at how affectionately they had been acting.

"Gross! Don't touch me, you homo." Andrew said uncomfortably.

"Homo? You're the one who was licking my ear." Xander shuddered, and everyone else made a disgusted face. Xander got a mortified expression, and shook his head. "I need some fresh air."

He rushed out the door.

"I-I need air too." Buffy said quickly, as she followed behind him. Spike wanted to go after her, but it was still daylight.

Willow realized that Warren still had his arm around her shoulders. She glanced back at him and stepped away. She had no idea what she was doing with him. Then she looked at Tara with sad eyes.

"Tara? I'm so sorry...I-I don't know what happened."

"I do. It was a spell. I can't believe this. You never stop, do you? What were you trying to do this time? A spell to get me back?" Tara said accusingly with tears in her eyes.

"Tara, no." Willow shook her head.

"Save it. I-I can't trust you anymore." Tara turned around and walked outside.

Willow turned around looked at Warren sadly.

"I didn't do this. Whatever it was." She said, wanting someone to believe her.

"I believe you." He told her.

"Thanks."

She smiled slightly and walked away from him. She was still too upset that Tara was angry with her. And she was confused at the way she was feeling now. Nothing made sense.

Anya and Giles were already at work trying to lift debris and determine the damage. They were too embarrassed by their earlier declarations of affection and devotion to even look at each other. Again, they had been drawn together by a spell. The more it happened, the more they both realized their attraction was real. They didn't need a spell to show them that. And it was terrifying.

Andrew walked up to Warren hurriedly.

"Let's get out of here before that Anya chick remembers to call the cops." He told him.

"Good point." He agreed. He took one last glance at Willow, and smiled to himself. 

He still liked her. Spell or not. But there wasn't any time to stick around and explore that idea further. They rushed out the back door, leaving everyone behind to deal with the aftermath of the wayward spell.

******* 

Days passed and a cloud of misery appeared to settle over the Scoobies as they settled down into their regular routines. Anya and Giles continued to work together although they made a point of not getting too close and neither of them mentioned what had happened when they'd been trapped in the basement. Giles made no mention of returning to England, despite the fact that he'd booked the ticket in advance. Somehow he just couldn't bring himself to leave. Xander and Anya had decided to call of their engagement. The spell had left them too confused about their feelings and both had agreed that this was the best thing to do until they knew for sure what they were doing.

The more time passed the more Anya realised that her words to Giles in the basement had been based on reality. It was getting to the point now where she could barely look at him without wanting to pull him into her arms and kiss him until it hurt. But for once she couldn't bring herself to say anything. She'd always been one to say what was on her mind but the idea of him rejecting her was just too much.

One night they were working late, going through the insurance claim for the damage the earthquake had caused. They were sitting as far apart as possible and Anya couldn't stand it.

"Giles do you like me?" She asked.

His head shot up and his glasses were in his hand being cleaned before she even realised it. "W-what?"

"Do you like me?" She repeated. It was at the stage now where she had to know how he felt before she went insane.

"Well…I….I'm very fond of you. You've done wonders for the shop."

"That's not what I mean." Anya replied. "I mean do you have sexy thoughts about me? When there isn't some sort of spell involved."

Giles began to clean his glasses harder and for a moment Anya was afraid they were going to break.

Finally he sighed and Anya braced herself for the rejection she'd feared.

"Anya. I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since the first time we kissed."

A huge smile spread across her face. "Really?"

He nodded and she couldn't imagine ever feeling any happier.

"I think we should go on a date." She finally announced.

"A date?" Giles asked a little dubiously. "I don't know. The last time I went on a date I ended up at Monster Trucks."

Anya laughed, trying to imagine Giles there. "We'll go somewhere quiet. How about the Espresso Pump?"

That sounded safe enough. Giles nodded. "Alright then. How about tomorrow?"

Anya smiled. "It's a date."

*******

As the end credits for Babylon 5 ran Xander sighed wistfully. Every time he saw any of his favourite shows he caught himself wishing Andrew was there to watch it with him. He'd never imagined he could have these kinds of feelings for someone of the same sex, but as Willow had shown, if you love someone then gender shouldn't matter. 

He glanced over at his Collector's Plates on the wall and that did it. He looked down at the piece of paper in his hands. After they'd talked about meeting up to watch videos Andrew had given him his phone number and told him to call him whenever he wanted. 

Xander picked up the phone and dialled.

"Hello?" A familiar voice answered and Xander felt his heart soar.

"Andrew? It's Xander."

"Hey!" He replied and Xander swore he could hear the smile in his voice. 

"I was just wondering if you wanted to meet up tomorrow and then come back to mine and watch some Star Trek."

There was a pause and Xander felt his hear sink. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all.

"Is this a date?" Andrew finally asked softly, the hope evident in his voice.

Xander swallowed and took a deep breath. He could do this. "I guess it is. I mean it is if you want it to be."

"I do." Andrew replied.

Xander smiled, he actually felt good about this. "Ok, shall we meet in the Espresso Pump tomorrow night?"

"Ok." Andrew replied. "See you then."

As they both hung up Xander realised he had just entered a new stage of his life. And he couldn't be happier.

*******

Willow was more miserable than she could possibly have imagined. Not only was Tara not speaking to her but she found that she missed Warren and had no way of getting in contact with him. She switched on her laptop to search the Internet for new spells and it was then that she saw that she had an e-mail. She clicked on it and nearly fell off her chair when she read the message.

Willow

Meet me in the Espresso Pump tomorrow night. I've got a little something for you.

Warren

She smiled. He had something for her? She wondered what it was and suddenly felt the urge to get something for him too. She just didn't know what. She wanted it to be something good, special. Finally she had an idea for something she _knew_ he'd like. It was going to take some time but it would be worth it.

Shutting down her computer she began to start working. This was going to be fun

*******

It had been a quiet night of patrolling for Buffy and she was trying her hardest not to think about Spike. It wasn't working very well though. Every time she got a moment of peace she found herself remembering how happy she'd been when they were kissing, it was the only really happy time she could think of since being brought back from the dead.

The next thing she knew she was heading towards Spike's crypt with no idea of what she wanted to say to him.

"Spike?" She called as she pushed the door open. "Are you here?"

He looked up from his seat in front of the TV and sighed wearily. "Come for another round of kick the Spike?"

She shook her head. "I was wondering if you wanted to come out for coffee tomorrow night."

Spike cocked his head to once side and studied her carefully. He didn't know how much of these changing moods he could take. "Is this another spell? Because I'm getting a bit tired of being slapped in the face every five minutes."

"It's not a spell. I just wanted to thank you for saving me the other day."

It might not be a date but it was better than nothing. "Ok, how about we meet at the Espresso Pump tomorrow night?"

*******

Xander glanced at his watch yet again. It was only a couple of minutes after eight but he was starting to get nervous. What if Andrew never showed? He was going to feel like the biggest idiot on the earth.

"Um….hi." A nervous voice said and Xander looked up to see Andrew hovering at the table. He smiled.

"Hey, take a seat."

Andrew sat down and began to fiddle with a napkin. Xander could see that he was nervous and that just made it even cuter. 

"Did you see Babylon 5 last night?" He asked, trying to break the ice.

Andrew smiled and instantly seemed to relax. "Yeah, it was cool. Those alien parasites were really creepy."

"I'll have to tell you about the time that a load of people I went to High School with got taken over by parasites."

Andrew stared at him with awe filled eyes. "Wow, you are so cool. Stuff like that never happens to me."

Xander smiled. "Stick with me and I guarantee you'll see plenty of creepy stuff."

Andrew smiled shyly. "I intend to."

The next thing Xander knew, Andrew's foot was rubbing sensually against his leg under the table. It felt good.

Andrew lowered his eyes and handed him a piece of paper. "Um…I wrote this for you."

Xander glanced down to see a bunch of strange symbols that he instantly recognised. Klingon. 

Thankfully he was able to translate as he read

The way your eyes sparkle and dance, 

The way your butt looks in those pants, 

I like you...I like you more than I like TV, 

You look just like David Duchovny, 

Please won't you be my flying butt-monkey?

Xander smiled. "Your flying butt-monkey?"

Andrew blushed. "It was dumb. Sorry."

Xander felt his heart melt. He didn't think it was possible for Andrew to be any more adorable. 

He took his hand and gently squeezed it. "I'll be your butt-monkey if you want."

Andrew looked up in surprise and Xander decided to seize the moment. He leant across the table and pressed a soft kiss to Andrew's lips.

A few minutes later, Willow walked into the coffeehouse with a small box under her arm. She looked around nervously, wondering if Warren would already be here. As she glanced around, she saw Xander and Andrew holding hands over a cup of coffee. Her eyes grew wide and she gasped at the sight of them. Then a small smile crept over her lips. She shook her head.

"I always kinda knew he was gay." She muttered to herself.

"I did too." Warren said as he came up behind her.

She jumped a little and turned around to look at him.

"Hey. Uh, h-how did you know Xander was gay?" She wondered.

"Not him, Andrew. I think he used to have a crush on me." He chuckled.

She smiled sheepishly.

"I can see why." She said softly.

He grinned broadly, not believing his luck at finding the girl of his dreams. And he didn't even have to build her himself.

"I brought this for you." He said handing her a box almost identical to the one she was holding.

"Oh, this is for you." They exchanged packages, and went to sit down at a table in the corner.

"Wow, you actually brought me something?" He asked astonished. No one had ever given him a gift before.

"Well, you said you had something for me. I-I didn't wanna be rude-girl and not have something in return."

His heart started beating quickly. She was smart, beautiful _and_ thoughtful. It was amazing.

"Go ahead and open yours." He told her.

"We'll open at the same time."

He nodded and they both opened up their gifts. Willow pulled out a small robotic cat, and Warren pulled out a robo-dog. They both laughed when they realized they had given almost the same gift.

"Oh my god...It's so cute." Willow said excitedly, looking at the little black cat.

"It's not as realistic as the girlfriend-bots, but I didn't have a lot of time."

"Me neither. Do you like yours? I-I didn't know if you liked dogs." She asked nervously.

"Totally. Dogs are great, but my mom's allergic." He said. "You like cats, right? I mean, I figured witches always have a cat, right?"

She chuckled.

"Yeah, I used to have a cat, but I-I had to get rid of her."

"Well, this one will be easier to take care of."

She patted the cat's head and it started to purr.

"How did you do that?" She asked.

"Well, I put a little computer chip right there behind the ears. When you pay attention to it, it gets happy." He explained.

"It's nice when someone pays attention to you. Makes me happy too." She told him.

"Do you purr?" He asked suggestively.

Embarrassed, she turned away from him.

"Maybe." She said shyly.

He leaned over and turned her face to look at him. She smiled, and he kissed her lips softly. And suddenly Willow felt like purring.

*******

Anya took a seat beside Giles and set their coffee's down on the table. It was then that she saw Xander and Andrew snuggling at their table. Surprisingly she wasn't upset; in fact she felt quite the opposite.

"They look so happy together." She told Giles with a smile.

He looked over to where she was pointing and blushed at the sight of the two men kissing across the table. "Um…yes, quite."

Anya smiled at him. "If Xander can move on and be happy then I don't see why I shouldn't either."

Before Giles could ask her what she meant she leant over the table, grabbed him be the shirt and kissed him with everything she had. A few people sitting nearby clapped and cheered which just made Anya kiss him harder.

Suddenly Giles cried out in pain, pulling back from her and clutching his back.

"Oh my God!" Anya cried, jumping to her feet and running over to him "I hurt you."

"It's alright." Giles replied with a wince. "I've just pulled a muscle, nothing serious."

Anya leant up and kissed him. "How about I take you home and give you a massage?"

In the doorway of the Espresso Pump Buffy stared in disbelief at the various couple's who had been in the basement with her. Willow and Warren, Xander and Andrew and Anya and Giles were all happily kissing without a care in the world.

At that moment she was joined by Spike who took in the scene with a raised eyebrow.

"Just another regular day on the Hellmouth" He said with a smile.

"I don't get it." Buffy said with disbelief. "What are they doing?"

Spike shrugged. "It seems to me that they're being happy. You should try it some time."

Buffy shook her head. "But look at who they're with. Xander's with a _guy_, Anya's with someone twice her age and Willow's with a sicko."

"You're looking at this all wrong. Xander is with someone who's just like him. Technically Anya is about a thousand years older than Giles and Willow has finally found someone who understands her. They might not be conventional relationships but so what. Weird love is better than no love, right?"

Buffy looked at him and for the first time she found herself not looking at the demon inside Spike but the man. What he said was true. Just because something was perceived by others as being 'wrong' that didn't mean it was. If the others were willing to take a chance then she was too. Leaning up she kissed Spike and this time there was no regrets. It might be weird, but it was still love.

The End


End file.
